


Felidae

by eldee



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Future Fic, Galra Keith (Voltron), M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-08-29 03:07:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8473096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eldee/pseuds/eldee
Summary: Five times Keith turns into a were-Galra, and one time he doesn’t.





	1. 1.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asocialfauxpas (fuzzytomato)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuzzytomato/gifts).



> This fic is being written for Tomato, who convinced me to watch this show in the first place. And then we were talking, and I said I read this thing about how Keith's characterization can go from calm to manic and feral quickly and, somehow, we ended up on feral-cat Keith. And so here it is. Actual (feral) cat Keith, but only sometimes.
> 
>  **Timeline:** I'm pretending this takes place after S2 (which hasn't aired yet so who knows what happens), but everyone is all back together and fine and everything is FINE. Also, Lance and Keith are +18 in my head/this story.
> 
>  **Rating:** The rating Mature applies to the fic as a whole but may not apply to every part/chapter as they're posted. (Reserve the right to change that to E if necessary.)
> 
> Title from, well. Cats.

**1.**

"What the fucking quiznak," Lance mutters. He pushes a branch out of his way. It snaps back and hits the side of his helmet, causing him to stumble forward a couple feet. He nearly trips over a neon green root covered in vines. He swears again. This forest is stupid. So is this planet. So stupid.

"You know," Keith says conversationally through the comm, right into Lance's ear, "pretty sure that quiznak means the same thing as fuck so you're just repeating yourself."

Keith is stupid too.

"What the fucking fuck," Lance replies. "What the quiznaking quiznak."

Keith laughs. It's not something he does often enough, but even Lance knows it sounds off. Too... breathy. Unstable. Which, admittedly, Keith is at times but he's been better lately. Ever since they were all reunited after that damn wormhole incident, and all back at the Castle, Keith has been fine. Fine-er, anyway. 

Things were finally getting back to normal, and for Keith, mocking Lance is normal. Uneven laughter sounding way too much like the Joker continuing through the comm? Not normal.

Lance picks up the pace, pushing through the neon green bramble and fuchsia flowers at his feet. He needs to get out of these woods. Keith said his shuttle landed in a field of flowers, fuchsia ones. He has to be close, right? These flowers are like little breadcrumbs leading Lance right to Keith. They have to be.

"Keith," Lance says, breaking through the manic laughter. "I know I'm funny. The funniest, even, but I'm not _that_ funny. Except when I am. But, dude, what is with you?"

"I don't know," Keith says. His voice drops, along with all humor in it. "I wish Red were here."

"Me too, buddy, me too." A quick scouting mission, Allura had said. The lions need more time to recuperate, Allura had said. Just a quick jaunt to the surface for scouting, Allura had said. Take the shuttles, Allura had said.

Allura got it all wrong.

There had to be a glitch with the Castle's scanning systems. Because something in this atmosphere threw the two shuttles off trajectory and they crash-landed. Luckily, Lance is an excellent pilot—and Keith isn't too bad, he supposes—and they were able to land them relatively safely. But Lance's shuttle is trashed. Keith's at least has some power, even if it won't take off yet. So Lance is making his way to Keith, led by fuchsia flowers and manic laughter.

This quick scouting mission sucks ass, basically.

The canopy of fire-engine red leaves above starts to thin, as does the denseness of the thick tree trunks. The vegetation underfoot gets easier to slog through and, finally, Lance breaks through the forest and finds himself standing on the edge of a large field.

Full of fuchsia flowers.

Keith's shuttle is easy to spot, sitting tall and obvious in the middle of the field. The chrome glints in the sun. Lance uses his visor like binoculars, and he zeroes in on Keith's dark hair peaking above some of the flowers. He's sat outside the shuttle, lazing about like he's having a picnic on a nice day. Something more enjoyable other than trekking through a miserable forest, that’s for sure.

"Keith," Lance says. "I see you."

Keith stands and turns in a circle. Spins, two, three, four times. Finally he spots Lance and starts jumping up and down, waving his arms.

"Oh my God," Lance says. "Stop it. Stop being so obvious!" They have no idea who inhabits this stupid planet.

He sees perfectly when Keith flips him the bird. With both hands.

"You're such a jackass," Lance says matter-of-factly. He cringes when Keith's manic laughter starts up again. It's almost frightening. "Keith," he says quickly, getting his attention. The laughter stops, thankfully. "What's the diagnostic on the shuttle?"

"I told you," Keith says, his voice dropping low. Then he actually growls. He spins around and kicks the shuttle in a ridiculous move. "The diagnostic is that it's a piece of shit that's not working."

That is not the terminology Keith used thirty minutes ago.

"Hey, hey," Lance says, picking up his pace. He keeps his voice low-key, laid-back, even with the worry starting to bubble up. Something is not right here. "Stop that before you hurt yourself. Speaking of, you're sure you're not injured, right?"

"I told you," Keith repeats, in that same low growly voice. "I'm fine. I'm so fine. You know how fine I am."

Lance isn't going to reply back in the flirtatious way he usually does. Because, yeah, he's noticed just how _fine_ Keith is lately, and he's pretty sure Keith has picked up on that. Neither of them have said or done anything, other than a harmless flirt or two, but. Even Lance knows this isn't the time.

One too many rejections from Allura has taught him that.

"I'm just saying," Lance says easily, even when he starts a jog, "you're acting a little, well, crazy cakes, man."

Keith growls again, and Lance has never heard that sound from him before. Then Keith starts ripping off his jacket, which, what?

"I hate this planet," Keith says. "It's hot, it's so hot. Why is it so hot?"

"It's a balmy summer day, sure," Lance says, "but it's not _hot_."

Keith's jacket is on the ground, and he pulls off his boots one-by-one and chucks them as far as he can into the patch of flowers.

"Oh, come on, man!" Lance shakes his head. "You're going to make me go get those, aren't you?" Keith's laugh is manic again and then Lance sees him reach up for his helmet. "Oh, no, don't you—"

Keith won't be able to hear him. The helmet has gone the way of the boots.

"You have got to be kidding me," Lance mutters. He sprints at a full run. When he gets to Keith, Keith is down to just his underwear—thankfully he's wearing some, because while Lance has accepted he isn't opposed to seeing Keith naked, moments of delirium are not attractive. Mostly.

"What are you do—Keith?"

Lance stops feet away from Keith and gets a full look at him. His skin is mottled with patches of purple, and Keith is hunched over, gripping his stomach like he's about to throw up a plate of bland green space goop.

Keith looks up, and through the fringe of his hair, his eyes are a bright yellow, and wide, like a cat's.

Lance takes a step back, an involuntary reflex, and Keith's face falls.

"Lance?" Keith sounds far away, sad, vulnerable. "What's... what's happening to me?"

Before Lance can say anything, Keith's spine bows and he releases a heart-shattering scream, and then he falls to the ground. Lance startles to action, rushing forward and sinking to his knees beside Keith. His hands hover over Keith's back, which has turned completely purple and holy shitsnacks, is that _fur_?

"Keith. Keith. You okay?" Lance's hand falls to Keith's shoulder and, yup, that's definitely fur. Why is Keith turning purple and furry? "Talk to me. What's happening?"

"Don't feel good." Keith's hunched over, but when he looks up at Lance, Lance is shocked to see that Keith looks like... he looks like...

Fuck. Keith looks like a _Galra_.

Keith's body shudders more and Lance hates the noises that come out of his mouth. Pain and anguish and confusion, all echoing inside of Lance too. 

"Keith," Lance says helplessly.

"Get back." The timber of Keith's voice is low, much like earlier but now more... _animalistic._ Lance doesn't want to back off, doesn't want to leave his teammate, his friend, but then bones start to crack and holy hell those are claws growing out of the end Keith's fingertips. Long and razor sharp, digging into the dirt and ready to rip everything apart.

Lance backs up a few feet, for his safety and maybe Keith’s too, and watches as Keith's entire body goes under what could only be an agonizing transformation.

Keith turns into a cat. 

What. The. Fuck.

Keith turns into a giant, purple, Galra-like cat.

Not completely Galra though. Because he doesn't look humanoid. He doesn't look like he can stand on two legs and fight, like he could hold guns and knives and laser shooters or anything else.

He looks like a purple panther, to be honest, with bright yellow eyes, and a long tail that swishes back and forth.

"You're beautiful," Lance blurts out. Then he winces because... well. He didn't expect to say that. He didn't mean to. 

Keith looks up at him for one moment, and if a large were-Galra could show surprise, it would probably look exactly like that. But between one blink and the next, all recognition on Keith's purple, fuzzy face is gone. It's like he's never seen Lance before, and his lips curl back to reveal sharp fangs.

"Oh shit."

Lance scrambles back a couple more feet, and Keith hisses at the sudden movement. He crouches down, like a wild predatory cat that's ready to pounce.

"Now, Keith," Lance tries to reason, putting a hand out and patting the air, as if that would be something he could do to settle Keith. It's not. Instead Keith couches even more and, holy crap, Lance snatches back his hand so that Keith doesn't snatch it instead. With his _teeth_.

"Keith, buddy, Keith," Lance says in a soothing voice. "It's me. It's Lance. And you're Keith. You're a big, purple fuzzy cat—and your underwear is now in shreds on the ground but that’s okay, who needs underwear when you’re a cat? But you _are_ still Keith and we're friends. You know we are."

Keith's head tilts to the side, and Lance has no idea if he recognizes English anymore. Or any language, period. 

"Meow?" Lance says.

Keith snarls.

"Okay, no meows. That’s fine. That’s cool."

As he’s talking, his hand goes to his side, gripping his bayard, and he really doesn't want to hurt Keith but he will if it means surviving. He's hoping to knock him out and somehow figure out how to send a distress signal to the Castle. Maybe one already automatically sent with the crash, since neither Lance or Keith could reach anyone by other methods, but there's something up with this crazy planet that’s blocking most their tech, save for short-distance comms. Nothing is as it should be. So who knows.

Keith takes one step forward with a ridiculously large paw, still low and slinking and Lance's fingers tighten around the weapon. 

Suddenly, a dart hits the side of Keith's neck, and he roars in pain.

"Wait, what? Keith!" Lance lunges forward, but smartly stops himself before he gets too close because Keith swipes a large paw through the air. In anger, in pain, Lance isn't sure. "I need to get that out of you, stop it!"

Keith stumbles and then falls to the side, his large cat body hitting the ground with a thud. He twitches but doesn't move any more.

"Okay, okay, don't hurt me. I said don't!" Lance scolds as Keith weakly swipes a paw in the air when Lance gets close. But Keith drops it back to the ground and pants wetly as Lance approaches him. "God, you're still cranky as a cat. Sometimes you just need a little help, you know?" Lance gently puts his hand on Keith's boney cat shoulder and grips the dart in his neck. He pulls hard to get it out, and Keith meows weakly but angrily. "Stop it, you big baby. Big kitty. Whatever."

He's trying to figure out what to do next when there’s a sharp pain in his neck. He cries out, his hand flying up to feel a dart sticking out of it.

"Right," Lance says groggily, trying to pull it out. "Those came from somewhere."

His vision goes black and the last thing he remembers is falling forward onto a furry lump.

 

**

 

"What the hell?"

Lance's head throbs with pain, a wicked headache pounding behind his eyes. He puts his hand up to this forehead as he struggles to sit up. Blinking through the blurriness, he looks around. He's in a little room with dirt floors and walls and ceiling. Literally a hole in the side of a dirt mound, he suspects. 

"Where am I? What happened? Where's—who are _you_?"

Lance had been talking to himself. He didn't know there was someone else there. But in the corner stands a short dude holding up a rudimentary weapon with a dart right at the end of it. Just like the one he pulled out of Keith's neck, and probably like the one that went into his own, drugging him up and making him lightheaded.

Lance scrambles back, hand flying to his hip but his bayard isn't there. He's been stripped down of all his own clothes and now dressed in a loose cotton top and what reminds him of pyjama pants.

"I am Igg-Carmota." His voice is a deep timber, unexpected for someone of such a small stature. "Who are you?"

"Lance. I'm Lance. Lance, a legendary Paladin and I will have you know that I have a team that will be looking for me. Hear of Voltron? Yeah. That guy."

Okay, so Voltron wasn't much without Lance and Keith there to help out but maybe Igg-Carmota didn't know that.

Wait. Keith.

"Where's my friend? What did you do to him?" Lance lists to the side a little, throwing his hands out so he doesn't face plant onto the dirt floor. Ugh, he's still too drowsy to be very threatening. "What'd you do to _me_?"

"It will work out of your system soon," Igg-Carmota says. He's an adult, obviously, by the deep winkles that line his face and the streaks of grey in his shaggy hair, he's just very small. He reminds Lance of someone.

He snaps his fingers. "Oh my God, are you a Hobbit? Damn, you're a Hobbit, aren't you? Are we in Hobbiton?" Lance glances around. "Holy elevensis, we're in a hobbit hole."

Okay, so this place doesn't look nearly as nice as Bag End. It's mostly a dirt hole, but still.

"I'm in Middle Earth," Lance says in wonder.

Igg-Carmota tilts his head to the side. "I do not know this Middle Earth. You are on the planet Skene."

"Oh. Right." Lance really needs to shake off this drugged-up thing. "Wait. You shot me! And my friend." Lance's heart start to pound as he looks around more frantically. "Keith! Keith!" Lance starts to stumble to his feet and the dude holds up his dart gun with precise accuracy. "What did you do to Keith?"

"The part-Galra? He is fine. Somewhere for safe-keeping so he does not cause any harm."

The words make Lance pause in spot. "No, he's not Galra. You saw him. He was a big purple cat."

Igg-Carmota raises his eyebrows. 

Okay, fair. That's what Galra are, basically. But not like this.

"He's human. He's not a Galra. He's not... that hasn't happened to him before," Lance tries to explain. He really has no clue if it has or not—maybe it has. Keith isn't really big on sharing. But Lance doesn't think this is something he'd keep secret, and Keith had seemed rather confused before changing. "This is... what did this planet do to him?" God, this stupid planet. _Skene_. What a dumb name.

"The flowers," Igg-Carmota explains. "They are potent to Galra. Makes them act all—" Igg-Carmota does a full body shudder, which Lance takes as an equivalent of swirling a finger at the side of your head to indicate crazy.

"He got drugged by the flowers?" 

"They affect Galra, yes."

Lance stares at him. "Keith landed in a field of, what? Cat nip?"

That is such a Keith thing to do, frankly.

"I do not know this cat nip," Igg-Carmota says. 

Lance stands to his full height. Or tries to. The dirt ceiling is quite low and a root that's sticking down gets tangled in Lance's hair. He makes a noise and pushes it away. "Take me to Keith."

Igg-Carmota sturdies the dart gun. "I cannot do that."

"Listen," Lance says, holding his hands out to the side. "I need to see my friend. Make sure he's all right."

"He cannot be seen until the affects wear off. He is dangerous otherwise."

It makes sense, sure, but Lance needs to know he’s alright. He tries to go for intimidation. "My crew is going to be looking for us. Just so you know, and they’re not going to be happy to know we’ve been kept separated and locked up."

"Let them come," Igg-Carmota says, and sounds relieved. "They can take you from our planet. The Galra does not belong here, and if I had not seen him in his alternate form first, he would be dead."

"He's not..." Lance makes a frustrated noise. "He's not Galra."

"We shall see."

"Speaking of see." Lance takes a couple steps forward. 

"You must stop," Igg-Carmota says.

"What are you going to do about it, short fry?" 

He shoots Lance with a dart gun, is what he does.

 

**

 

Lance wakes up with a wicked headache times a thousand.

"Are you going to listen to me now?" Igg-Carmota asks from his seat in the corner. 

Lance turns his head to him and sighs. "Are you going to take me to Keith?"

"Yes," Igg-Carmota says, surprisingly.

Lance pushes himself up, though he’s much more unstable this time around. He hits his head on the low ceiling and grunts. Igg-Carmota laughs, and it sounds like trees falling in the forest. Lance doesn't know is he should hug this guy or punt him through the dirt wall.

He just wants to see Keith, so he supposes he should try that diplomacy thing Shiro and Allura always harp on about.

"Lead the way," Lance says begrudgingly. Igg-Carmota smirks, and does so.

 

**

 

Lance is led down a little corridor, all dirt walls and floors and low ceilings, to a room that's barred off. God, they have Keith in a cage.

Too tall to look through the barred door very well, Lance gets down on his knees, bringing him the same height as Igg-Carmota, though the Skenian stands back at a respectful distance. 

Keith is sitting at the back of the room. He's not in full cat mode, which is probably the only reason why Lance was even brought to him. He’s not naked anymore either, wearing the same soft cotton pyjama like get-up as Lance. They're going to have to get their suits and helmets back somehow. Hopefully Igg-Carmota returns them when they’re released from this protective custody thing that’s going on. 

Keith might be back in his human-like form, but his skin is purple, and looks like it’s still furry. He’s sat on his butt, his knees drawn up in front of him, and he’s looking down at his hands, purple with long sharp nails. Not claws, not exactly, but still deadly.

"Keith," Lance says softly.

Keith doesn't look up at Lance, but his voice comes quiet and shaky. "I don't know what’s happened to me."

"Flowers," Lance says. "Galra cat-nip, apparently. No wonder you were acting so weird when I was trying to find you. You were hiiiiigh."

Keith makes a distressed noise and Lance bangs his forehead against the metal bars. Wrong thing to say, wrong thing to say. Lance has no tact.

"I didn't mean, you're not weird, you're just you… we'll figure it out. Allura probably knows what this is."

"They won't want me in the Castle."

"What? Don’t be stupid. You're the Red Paladin."

Keith looks up at Lance, and Lance does everything in his power not to wince. Keith's eyes are still cat-like, yellow and bright, and he's got big, pointy ears sticking out from under his mop of dark hair. Maybe Keith can tell how much seeing him threw Lance off, because he draws his lips back in a snarl. His teeth look very sharp.

"We'll figure this out," Lance says again, trying to sound as firm and confident as possible. He usually is—he's _that_ guy. But this can't be easy for Keith. It's not easy for Lance, seeing him this way, and it's not even happening to him. But Lance knows one thing for certain. "We're a team, Keith. We're not leaving you behind."

Lance knows not a single one of the other Paladins, nor Allura or Coran, would let that happen.

Well. He hopes. He's not going to let it. They're finally all back together and making this Voltron thing work. They aren't leaving Keith behind because he's angry and cute and purple and maybe a little deadly. He was all that before. Well, except for the purple thing.

Keith stares at Lance, as if trying to will him to see what he is, and to be afraid of it. Lance just grins at him. 

"Hey," Lance says. "Want me to see if they have a ball of yarn? A box to sit in? Are you going to be an asshole and push things off the table just for the hell of it? Are you going to run around at 3 a. m. in the morning for no reason whatsoever? Oh, wait—" Lance snaps his fingers "—you already do. So _that's_ why!"

Keith bares his teeth again, but his shoulders slump and he looks away, as if all anger and attempts at intimidation have faded. Perfect.

"Igg-Carmota," Lance says, turning to their captor. "You're keeping us in here until our team shows up, aren't you?"

"For the protection of our people, we cannot let you out."

"Fair, I suppose," Lance says, trying to be agreeable. There's something he wants here. "But you're not going to, like, kill us or sacrifice us to your gods or something, right?"

"We are a peaceful folk," Igg-Carmota says. "We won't hurt you."

"You shot me with a dart," Lance says dryly, unable to help it. "Twice."

"You deserved it," Igg-Carmota says just as dryly. "Twice." 

Keith snorts as if he can't help himself. Lance glares at Keith for a moment, but turns back to Igg-Carmota. "Seriously, though. If you're keeping us under lock and key, may as well make it easier on yourself and keep us together."

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Keith's head whip up to stare at him incredulously. Igg-Carmota looks just as suspicious.

"I do not know if that is a good idea," Igg-Carmota says. "He may regress and turn feral again."

"He won't," Lance says.

"I might," Keith puts it.

"Oh my God, shut up, Keith," Lance says. He shakes his head. "He won't. And if he does, I'll deal with it. But I don't want him left alone. Just... keep the flowers away from us."

"This is not a good idea."

"Look, if you don't let me stay with him," Lance says, "it's going to be you that has to listen to me prattle on. And on. And on. I'm a talkative kind of guy. I hate to be alone when I don't need to be, and I mean, you can tell me all about Skene! I'm sure there's a million things you can tell me—"

"You can join him," Igg-Carmota says, unlocking the barred door. 

"Great," Keith says. "Thanks so much. Can't wait to have him here."

"Enough out of you," Lance says cheerfully. Igg-Carmota keeps his dart gun steady, but Lance isn't going to try to escape. If they're not going to be killed or harmed and just have to wait patiently for the others, then fine. He can handle it. They’ll be here soon.

He goes into the little room, the door locking behind him, and sits down right next to Keith. Keith grunts and moves over some, and Lance just shuffles after him until Keith is pretty much pinned between the wall and Lance.

"Lance," Keith says, sighing. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think? I'm being cool with all this."

"You're being clingy."

"God, cats are so temperamental."

Keith growls, and his purple hands ball up into fists. Lance hopes his nails aren't digging into his palms because, ouch, that would hurt.

"Hey," Lance says after a few minutes of awkward silence, "so do you think it was your mom who was Galra? Or your dad? Hey, maybe whichever one _wasn't_ Galra _was_ a werewolf. Or werecat? Because you got some heck of a shifter thing going on there."

Keith growls again and tries to wedge himself away from Lance but Lance is quick and squishes him some more.

"No," Lance says. "You're not using this as a reason to push us all away. You're not."

"Lance, look at me! I'm... I'm the bad guy."

Lance snorts. "I've never met anyone in my life who was so anti-bad guy. This doesn't make you one."

All fight goes out of Keith and he slumps against the wall again. "Why? Why do you have to be like this?"

"Would you rather me be any other way?" Lance leans back a little, just enough to give Keith room so he's not actually suffocating him with kindness. 

Keith is quiet and Lance isn't expecting an answer to the rhetorical question. But then he whispers, "No. I wouldn't."

"Good." Lance beams at him. "Now. Gonna answer my important question or not? Werewolves—part of your lineage?"

"Oh my God." Keith's head thunks back against the wall, but then he leans against Lance. "I'm tired. Can we not talk about this?"

"Cat nap. Good idea."

Keith groans but it's not in pain or anger or anything. Just a you're-so-cheesy-Lance groan, which is totally typical. See? They're going to be _fine_.

 

**

 

A little while later they're woken up from their nap when there's tapping on the bars. They've curled up against each other on the floor, and Keith pushes Lance's head off his chest.

"Did you drool on me?" Keith asks, making a face. He's still purple. "You're so gross."

"Oh dear," Allura says.

They both look over and see her knelt at the bars. Lance scrambles up, straightening his new clothes. "Allura! Hi! You came for us. Not too much trouble, right? The Skenians seem pretty cool. They just want us out of here."

Allura doesn't answer. She stares at Keith, whose sat up now but his eyes are downcast, refusing to look at her. 

"Oh, Keith," Allura says, and she sounds sad. His shoulders slump even more.

"You can fix him, right?" Lance asks. He puts his hand on Keith's shoulder, and his fingertips graze over soft fur. Keith tenses, as if expecting Lance to move away, but he just tightens his grip. Lance turns to Allura again. "He's going to be fine, right? There's gotta be a cure for this or whatever."

"There's no cure." Allura shakes her head. Keith makes a little, sad noise. Allura continues, "But we'll do what we can to help him adjust."

Keith looks up at her, finally. "You're—you're taking me back?"

"Of course I am," she says, sounding sad again, but like she can't believe he'd thought he'd be abandoned. 

"I told you!" Lance elbows Keith in the ribs. "You're staying with us. You're adjustable!"

"You're an idiot," Keith says. Lance laughs, because at least Keith sounds like his usual grumpy-but-loveable self.

"Come on," Lance says, pulling on Keith's sleeve. "You'll see. It'll be fine. Like Allura said, you'll adjust. We'll all help you."

Keith nods, and gives a little half smile. Lance tries to ignore just how that makes him feel, and focuses on getting them home.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

 

"Where's Keith?" Hunk asks.

Lance looks up from his dinner plate. Hunk has outdone himself with the meal. The Skenians, a race of peaceful farmers that shot Lance with darts but whatever, turned out to be easy to barter with, exchanging some Quintessence for actual food. They had an excess of it now, and even a week later, Hunk's still cooking delicious meals.

"He's avoiding us," Pidge says. They scrape their fork around, pushing a carrot-like vegetable from one side to the other. "He's still not..."

"Human?" Lance says. "He'll never be. Not really."

"Lance!" Pidge scolds. 

"What? He's part Galra. We know this. He knows this. I don't know why he's hiding out." 

"He's only been out of the healing pod for a couple days," Pidge says. "He just has to get used to it. I was going to say, before Lance rudely interrupted—"

"Rude? Me? Pfft."

Pidge raises their voice. "That he's still not comfortable with us."

"I don't see why not," Lance says, shoving more food into his mouth. "It's just us. It's just him. We've been to one end of the universe and back and seen all sorts of shit. What's a teammate who turns purple sometimes?"

"He doesn't just turn purple, Lance," Hunk says, a little uncertainly. He still gets freaked out over the oddest space stuff sometimes. "He turns..."

"Galra."

The three sitting at the table jump at the sound of Keith's voice. Keith stands in the doorway to the mess hall, hip cocked out to the side as he leans against the frame. He's in his customary black jeans and black shirt, san the red jacket right now. So his flesh-toned, not-purple forearms show with his arms crossed over his chest. He's obviously trying to force casualness but just looks defensive, muscles subtly twitching up his arm.

"Keith!" Lance pats the chair next to him. "Come and eat. Food's awesome. You missed most of the amazing meals, what with the sleepy thing. I get it. That happened to me once."

"I know. I was there." Keith's eyes drift from him to Pidge to Hunk.

Hunk offers a smile. "We were just talking about—"

"Me." Keith's shoulders hunch up to his ears. His round, normal human ears. Allura said some time in the healing pod would help his human form come back since he didn't know how to control it enough to turn back himself yet, and it worked.

"Stop being a baby," Lance says, rolling his eyes. "We were talking about how you weren't here because you're avoiding us because you're sometimes purple."

"Like Hunk said, it's not just turning purple, Lance," Keith says. Hunk winces. "That's simplifying it too much. And also why…" Keith trails off, looking uncomfortable and reaffirming his point. He's avoiding them just because he's half-alien. Whatever. Lance always knew there was something about him. At least now it's explained.

Lance waves his hand absently. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You gonna come eat or what?"

Keith inclines his head slightly, but then pushes off the doorframe and joins them at the table, taking the seat next to Lance but sitting away from the others. It's hard not to see how Hunk and Pidge's faces fall, and Lance could kick Keith in the currently-tailless ass for that, but they just all need to get used to it.

It's uncomfortable for a few minutes, and that's not like them. They got way over that eons ago. Okay not _actual_ eons but a long time ago. As a team, and as friends, they were even closer after they were all reunited again. So this awkwardness isn't cool.

"So," Lance says. All three of them look at him, as if hoping he could fix the weirdness. "You're all being weird."

Keith huffs. "Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out."

"No problem," Lance says brightly. 

Keith rolls his eyes but the corner of his mouth lifts up a little. It drops when he looks at Hunk and Pidge. He coughs to clear his throat, and then surprises Lance with his next statement. "If you have any... questions... or want to know something..." He trails off again, as if unsure how to finish.

Allura had explained to them what it was that happened to Keith—a lot of complicated DNA type stuff confirming that he was half-Galra but some species' DNA interacts differently when itty bitty half-Galra babies are made. Sometimes they're only Galra but weaker, or stronger depending on the other species mingled with it. Sometimes the Galra side never comes out, and sometimes there's the ability to control going back and forth. And then there's the super rare actual-cat shift that can happen in, like, .03% of the cases. But only if triggered. By Skenian cat nip, apparently. Well, not only that, but that's what got Keith.

For some reason, Keith has a mix of some of that. Which makes him one of the rarest of all, but not completely unheard of.

Trust Keith to be one of the anomalies. 

Despite the scientific explanation, Keith seems willing to get to it on a more personal level. Maybe this is him trying to make things not weird with the team. He looks incredibly unsure about it though.

"You don't have to talk about this, if you don't want," Lance points out. "It's cool. We know you're dealing with… a lot."

Keith shrugs, though he keeps his eyes on his plate of food. "It's fine. You guys have to deal with it too."

Hunk and Pidge look at each other, blink, then both look at Keith. They blink, and then they both start speaking at once.

"What's it like being half-Galra?"

"Can you change? Right now? I totally want to see that."

"Does it freak you out that there's an extra shift? Like, past Galra and right to a—"

"Were-Galra?" Lance says. "I think one of his parents was a werewolf."

"Lance," Keith says, elbowing him. "That's not even a thing."

Lance's arms flail out to the side. "It might be." He cups his hand next to his mouth and stage-whispers to the others, "It totally is."

"It's not," Keith says flatly.

They pause for a moment. Hunk and Pidge look at each other, blink, then both look at Keith. They blink, and then they both start speaking at once again.

"Can you purr?"

"Does the change hurt?"

"Do you need a box to sit in?" Hunk grins. "Cats totally love that."

"Right?" Lance throws up a hand. "I totally said that before and he glared at me!"

Keith punches Lance's shoulder. It's light and playful, almost grateful that things are more... normal. Lance makes a face and rubs his arm. 

"Ow. You ass. See if I get you any cat treats."

The next punch is a little harder.

Keith sighs and runs a hand through his hair, right to the edge of his mullet. "Look, I—I don't remember much. I'm sure you heard the story. Of us being knocked out?"

"Yes, you were taken down by a Hobbit." Hunk nods. "Heard all about it."

"A—what?" Keith shakes his head, not waiting for an answer. "But, anyway. I don't remember much from when I changed into the—" He frowns, looking for the right word.

"Were-Galra," Lance supplies.

"Stop it, that's not what it's called." Keith shakes his head. "Allura called it something else."

"Felidae," Pidge puts in. "Just means... cat family. But it's the shift past Galra into something more feral. I went over the data she has on it. It's super rare. Like, in all the many galaxies, there's maybe a dozen cases?"

"Congrats on being special!" Hunk says with a huge smile.

"Yeah, it's great," Keith says dryly. He pushes his plate away, as if losing all his appetite. He slides it in Hunk's direction when his eyes light up. Keith smiles, but then shakes his head, as if trying to shake off the questions. "I don't remember any of those kind of specifics. Just when I was more like a Galra and could talk to Lance and stuff. Not the actual cat thing."

"We didn't see you when you were brought in," Pidge says. "Allura said we had to respect your privacy and we weren't allowed to look through the glass on the healing pod either."

Keith arches an eyebrow. "Okay, who looked?" Hunk, Pidge, and Lance all raise their hands. At least Keith laughs. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Your purple is very pretty," Hunk says encouragingly. Keith laughs again, his dark fringe sweeping over his forehead as he shakes his head. 

"Thanks, Hunk."

"No problem, man."

"Okay, okay, I'll say it. I wasn't going to, but I will." Lance puts up his hands. "His were-Galra—"

" _Lance_." Keith sighs.

"Felidae form, whatever," Lance says. "Get this—it's pretty adorable."

"Oh my God." Keith puts his forehead on the table.

"Really?" Hunk sounds so excited to hear that. "Like, cute kitten adorable, or?"

"Adorable panther that wants to use its claws to kill you, adorable!"

Pidge laughs. "That sounds a little more ferocious."

Lance tilts his head to the side. "Okay, that too."

"Beautiful." Keith says it to the tabletop, but then he sits up and looks directly into Lance's eyes. "That's what you called me when I was changed. Beautiful."

"I—" Lance doesn't want to lie but holy crap he doesn't want to discuss this right now. "You said you didn't remember anything."

"I didn't," Keith says, "until right now. I remember that." He looks uncertain for a second. "Right? Or…" He frowns. "Maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about."

Lance does not want Keith to think he's imagining things. But he also doesn't really want to get into the feelings thing right now, or ever, and especially not in front of Hunk and Pidge. He's been covering up his ongoing attraction to Keith because he doesn't want to mess with the team's dynamics, and also, no one knows he thinks Keith is… that.

"If it makes you feel any better," Hunk says, "he totally thinks that of you right now, too."

"Oh my God, Hunk!" Lance cries out. His cheeks have got to be bright pink. Okay, so maybe they know.

Pidge covers their mouth with their hand and obviously tries not to laugh. They swallow and drop their hand away, but nods. "Definitely."

"Oh, God, guys." Lance is the one who puts his head down on the tabletop this time, narrowly avoiding face planting into his plate. "This is not the time."

From behind him, he hears Shiro's voice. "Not the time for what? Are you guys ready to train?"

Lance sits up and spins around to face him. "Yes, yes, let's go do something else. Anything else. Let's not talk about what we were talking about. Let's go do this training thing."

Shiro makes a bewildered face, but then his gaze shifts over a little and it's like he takes in Keith's presence for the first time. "Keith. I thought you were resting?"

Keith shakes his head. "No. I'm fine. I want to train too."

Shiro looks uneasy. "If you're sure. We don't want to push you—"

"I'm fine," Keith says, a little sharply. Lance's eyes go wide because, wow, Keith has no problem being prickly but rarely talks to Shiro like that. Not over something so harmless. "Sorry," Keith immediately says sheepishly, at Shiro's tightened look. "I'm just—I want to train too. Please. I need to do something…"

"Normal?" Lance supplies.

"I just want to get back into routine," Keith says.

"All right. That sounds like a good plan." Shiro nods. "If Allura thinks it's okay. We need to get your cleared for something like that."

"I talked to her first," Keith says. "She said it would be fine."

"Okay. It'll be good to have you join us, then. If you're all finished, let's go." Shiro turns and leaves the mess hall, Pidge and Hunk following after. Lance gathers up the plates and clears off the table, his bargain with Hunk since he cooks. He turns and finds Keith standing in the doorway again, this time waiting for him.

"Let's go! Training!" Lance says with an honest enthusiasm he didn't used to have for it. Keith smiles, which makes sense, because he loves training too.

But this smile has a different edge to it. He doesn't let Lance pass. He just smirks and says, "Beautiful, huh?"

"Shut up." Lance points a finger at him. "You're going through a lot right now, that's the last thing you need is to think about and have it confuse you any more." Yeah. Yeah, that's a good reason to avoid it. "Besides, it's nothing."

Keith tilts his head. "I don't know. Knowing you think I'm beautiful has certain advantages."

"Like what? None, that's what," Lance snaps. He doesn't want this held over his head. He doesn't want to be played with or led on or anything like that. Everything was fine before, and nothing needs to change. Not even with a Felidae Half-Galra hanging out. Especially then.

"If I flutter my eyelashes at you," Keith says, sounding completely smug, "can I get you to do anything I want?"

"No," Lance says, scowling. He pushes passed Keith, or tries to, but Keith sticks out his arm, gripping the edge of the doorframe and preventing him from leaving. They're pressed up against each other. "I'm serious, Keith, I'm not getting into this with you. Not now, not ever, not even if you—"

"Thank you," Keith says quietly, but with enough emotion it completely stuns Lance.

Lance blinks at him. "I—what?"

Keith's glancing at the ground, then his gaze comes up to his hand on the doorframe, and then back at the floor. Lance can't stop watching the way his eyelids move, the way he blinks, the way his eyelashes brush against his skin— _fuck_ , he's totally falling for the fluttering eyelashes thing.

But Keith's obviously not trying to use them again him. He looks oddly vulnerable at the moment, but he does meet Lance's eyes again. "Thank you," he repeats. "For back on Skene. For today. For being…" He shrugs and drops his hand away so Lance can get by him. Lance doesn't move, so close to Keith. Just inches away. "For being so cool about this."

"We're teammates," Lance says. "If there's anything I've learned from Voltron, it's that we're… that. Of course I'm cool with it. I mean, if you ever try to rip out my throat with your kitten teeth, we'll have a problem. But other than that… we're cool."

"Good. I—good."

"Keith?" Shiro's voice travels down the corridor. "Lance? You coming?"

"Yeah," Lance says. He coughs when his voice cracks. Keith smirks at him again, and Lance rolls his eyes and pushes him out into the hall. "Yeah, we'll be right there."

It's cool. They're fine. They're teammates. Friends. That's all Lance needs.

Everything is going to go perfectly smooth.

 

**

 

It doesn't go perfectly smooth.

 

**

 

Lance is getting much better at this training thing. On the training deck with the holographs and actual killer robots, he can hold his own. He's fine with doing his own thing, getting better on an individual level, but doing it as a team is good too.

Keith has always been a natural-born warrior, it seems. Not only is he good at training—and in the field, where he is absolutely kick ass—he likes it. Thrills on it. Thrives.

Knowing a bit more about his DNA... well. It makes sense now.

And he seems even more brutish today. Focused and aggressive and... singular. Even though he and Lance are teamed up, Keith is off doing his own thing. It feels too much like it did at the beginning, before they all learned to trust each other.

"Keith!" Lance ducks out of the way when the robot slashes down his sword. He rolls across the floor. The robot is programmed fast and he barely makes it out of the way of another blow. 

Lance rolls again and when he's upright, aims his laser gun perfectly at the robot, getting it square in the chest before it has a chance to put up a deflector shield.

"Keith!" 

Lance turns and sees Keith take on three robots by himself, which should be nearly impossible at their current setting. He moves with anger and precision, but he's not taking them out. He's playing with them, all three of them, with a weird maniacal smile on his face. 

Running over, Lance only halts when Keith swings his sword hard enough he sends a robot flying, and Lance has to dodge out of the way so he doesn't get crushed by the soaring metal heap.

"Hey! Watch out!"

"I'm fine," Keith yells back. He takes a run at a robot, kicks it in the face, spins through the air, and lands smoothly on his feet. He laughs, and it reminds Lance too much of Keith in a field of flowers. 

Worry grips him. Not concern or fear, but he has a feeling Keith is close to tipping to the edge again and doesn't even realize it.

"Stop playing with it," Lance says as Keith gets up and starts attacking the robot again. But he sees it—the way Keith teases it, dodges around, clearly open for the end shot but he doesn't take it. He's having too much fun.

One of the robots gets up, arm limp but the other one functional enough to swing through the air towards Keith's head. Lance yells and takes aim at the robot just as Keith turns and swings his sword. He misses because Lance's laser blast pushed the robot back, knocking it over. 

"Fuck off, Lance! I had it." Keith turns around and glowers at Lance.

His eyes are yellow, like a cat's. Purple blotches spread across his skin.

"Hey, man. You okay? You gotta calm down."

Keith growls, and then his whole body jerks, as if he's startled himself. He drops his sword and stares at his hand. The black nails are starting to grow. Not claws, yet, but they both see where this is going.

"Why?" Keith chokes out.

"Think you're too worked up," Lance says, trying for a casual tone. He steps closer, cautiously but not afraid. He can't let Keith think he's afraid, not even as he sees those round human ears start to grow and go furry. Crap.

They're both distracted as Shiro steps into the training circle. He frowns at the fallen sword. "Keith? You okay, bud?"

At the sound of Shiro's voice, Keith turns to him. Lance catches sight of the side of Keith's face, his neck, and the way the purple has completely spread. Keith grimaces as his body ripples and takes a different shape—not feline, but Galra.

Shiro meets Keith's eyes, and he winces and takes a step back. Lance knows it's involuntary, that he didn't mean to—there's no way he could have, he wouldn't do that to Keith. But the damage is done. Keith takes a couple steps back, shrinking into himself. Shiro's face falls immediately.

He steps forward. "Keith, no, I'm sorry—"

He's cut off as one of the robots starts to spark and fizzle. Keith really did it some damage, but somehow, it gets to its feet in inhuman speed. It immediately zeroes in on Keith's sword, ducking down to scoop it up and swinging wildly with it. 

Lance is temporarily stunned, but Keith is not.

There's a loud groan of pain that permeates the room, and Lance moves out of the robot's way just in time to glance over and see Keith transform. His clothes rip apart as his body changes into the form of a furry purple panther.

"Keith." Shiro sounds... lost, almost. Lance knows he went through some shit with the Galra, but damn it, this reaction is not going to help their team at the moment.

Lance brings up his weapon to just shoot that damn robot out of its misery, but Keith the cat bounds at it and Lance doesn't dare in case he hits the wrong target. Keith goes wild on it, snapping his strong maw and ripping off an arm, and swiping with those deadly claws, sparks flying out of the broken circuits.

This is not a cat playing with its prey any longer. He goes in for the kill, and quick.

When the robot is good and dead, Keith the purple cat turns on Shiro and snarls.

"Keith."

"He doesn't remember you," Lance says quickly, "or maybe he remembers enough to know you're afraid of him."

"I'm not—"

Keith roars and ducks into his predatory crouch, ready to stalk and pounce on Shiro.

"Pidge! Hunk!" Shiro calls out. He reaches to his side and clenches his metal fist.

Lance rushes over, slides onto his knees between Shiro and Keith, facing the crouching cat.

Keith snarls, because he's a jerk that way, even as a Felidae.

"Keith, cut it out," Lance scolds. Keith snaps his jaws, but he doesn't move.

Lance puts up his hands. "Let's go through this. You're Keith. You're a cat right now, but you're _Keith_ and you're my friend and just calm the hell down, you big kitty cat."

Keith steps forward, because of course he does. His tail swishes through the air. He _wiggles_ , even, just like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse.

Lance knee-walks a couple feet, and Keith backs up in same measure. He licks his lips but he looks... less predatory now. More curious. He lowers his big nose to the ground but doesn't take his yellow eyes off Lance. Keith steps forward cautiously.

"That's right, beautiful," Lance says. "We're good, right?" 

Keith loses his predatory crouch, though he still looks at Lance suspiciously. That's fine. Cats seem to be a suspicious animal.

"There are you," Lance says. "Pretty kitty, there's a pretty kitty."

Lance swears Keith's eyes narrow at him. He sits back on his hunches and stares at Lance. Then he raises a front paw and starts licking it, seemingly ignoring Lance.

"Are you kidding me? Are you being an ass to me on purpose?"

Keith keeps licking his paw. At least it's not anything else he's licking.

Lance rolls his eyes. "You totally understand me, don't you?"

Keith's tail swishes in the air.

"This explains so much, you know," Lance says. He swears Keith ducks his head to cover up a grin, if he were able to grin. It's such a Keith move that Lance knows, just knows, there's some kind of recognition in there. There has to be. This is some sort of breakthrough, and Lance doesn't want to mess this up. He's so good at that, but this is important and he can't afford to do something wrong.

"Lance." Shiro's voice is soft but firm. "I want you to back away from him. Now."

"Why?" Lance gets more comfortable where he is. He doesn't need to go anywhere. They are going to make this work. "I'm fine."

"You don't know that."

Keith's ears twitch and his body starts to tense up again. He remains sitting, but this is not a relaxed cat comfortable with his surroundings.

"I do know that. This is Keith!" Lance knee-walks a bit more. Keith just watches him, stone cold and not moving but not angry either. "Shiro, what's gotten into you?"

"We don't know how much of Keith is in there. It's too soon. And he's dangerous."

"He's not," Lance says. He inches closer to Keith, who doesn't react to it at all.

"Lance. Enough." Shiro's voice is sharp, and both Lance and Keith look at him. His hand is on his holster at his side, and while Lance can't see the weapon it's obvious one is there. He wonders if Keith can conceive that in his feline form.

As if on cue, Keith starts to back up from Shiro, sharp eyes never leaving Shiro. In a quick flicker, Shiro's face falls, as if he knows he's not being trusted, but then it clears and hardens, as if he's the one who shouldn't trust.

"What is with you two?" Lance asks. "You remember that you're friends, right? Teammates. For crying out loud, both of you stop acting so weird!"

They both take a turn to stare at him disbelievingly. Yes, he's convinced that is a disbelieving look on a purple cat. It's certainly one from the team leader.

"So, there's no danger," Lance says conversationally, keeping his voice light. "But we do have to decide what to do. How do we help Keith get back to human form? What should we—"

A lot of things happen at once. Hunk and Pidge rush in through a door that suddenly slides open. Keith is startled and jumps back a few feet, hissing. He lands on his feet and couches again, growling, tail swishing angrily.

"Hey, hey," Lance says, putting out his hand. Keith turns on him and snarls, prepared to pounce again. Lance sees all the progress, as small as it was, shattered and maybe the recognition is gone now. Shit. Lance braces for an attack when, suddenly, Keith yelps.

There's a dart in his neck.

"What? No!" Lance calls out just as Keith topples to his side. That poor dude. He's not having a very good existence as a Felidae. 

Lance follows Keith's gaze and sees Shiro standing off to the side, a very small dart gun in his hand. But it's enough to send one flying into Keith.

Shiro looks shocked, and ashamed. "Keith, I didn't mean to—"

"Put that down," Lance snaps at him. Shiro drops it without question. Lance slides on his knees beside Keith, who doesn't growl or hiss or swipe a paw in protest this time. He just lays on his side while Lance pulls the dart out. "He didn't mean it," Lance whispers. Keith's cat eyes meet his, and they look so very sad. Even if he could fight, it seems the anger has drained away to fuel it. Lance frowns. That's not right either. "You know he didn't."

Keith closes his eyes and puts his head on the ground. Lance reaches out and lightly puts a hand on the top of Keith's head, fingers lightly rubbing over the soft fur between his eyes.

"You're right," Hunk says. "He's adorable."

Keith releases a huff, his whole body heaving with it. Pidge and Hunk laugh, and as worried as he is, even Lance smiles. Lance glances over and sees Shiro crouched down like a back catcher in a baseball game, only his head is buried in his hands and grief comes off him in waves.

Lance sighs. This is gonna be a shitshow to sort out.

 

**

 

There's a lot of discussion on what to do with Keith.

"He needs time to heal," Allura says. "In the pod—"

"He needs to learn how to cope with this!" Lance throws his hands out to the side. "Shoving him into the pod every time he does his—" he waves those hands around absently now "—shift thing, he'll never learn control."

"He will learn," Allura says. "He will, but we need to give him time."

"We need not to drug him every time it happens!" Lance snaps back.

Pidge and Hunk sit at the table, exchanging glances at everything Lance says. But neither of them speak up, not for or against Lance. He's not sure if that's a good thing or not.

"We won't. That was—Shiro didn't mean to."

"Really?" Lance crosses his arms. "It'd be great if he was here to confirm it but since he's disappeared on us—"

"Lance." Allura frowns. "You don't know what he went through, and his reaction was—"

"Bullshit," Lance says. And he does know what Shiro went through. Shiro told them all, eventually, once he remembered himself what happened when he was a prisoner of the Galra. Still. "His reaction was bullshit."

"He's also learning how to cope—"

"You going to shove him in a healing pod? I hear that helps," Lance says dryly. "Anyone needing to cope with life, get in the healing pod. Oh, wait! Guess that'll be all of us."

Allura's beautiful face goes flat, like when she's being challenged and doesn't like it. Good. 

Pidge decides it's a good time to interject here. "Lance, Allura is more familiar with this sort of situation—"

"Really? How many Felidae has she actually met? You've done all the research, maybe you can make better decisions on this." Lance feels a little betrayed at the moment. He thought Pidge would side with him. Instead he sends Allura a heated look. "Tell us. How do you know what is best?"

"What is the matter with you?" Allura asks instead of answering. Classic deflection "Why are you arguing so much?"

"I just think that no one is giving Keith enough credit, that's all. I was getting through to him! When he was in cat form. He was... him. He's Keith, either way."

"He's dangerous," Hunk says. "He doesn't mean to be," he adds quickly at Lance's glare, "but you saw him tear apart that robot."

"That robot was attacking us. I wasn't going to attack him so he wasn't going to hurt me. It's that simple."

"It's not that simple," Allura says.

"She's right," Keith says from the doorway. They all look over at him. He's wrapped up in a white robe, which makes his purple Galra fur stand out even more. "None of this is simple." Keith looks around. "Where's Shiro?"

"Avoiding us," Lance says dryly. "He must've learned that from you."

Keith's head drops and he looks defeated. "It's okay. I get it. I'm not mad at him for—"

"Well, I am!" Lance says, indignant.

Keith glances up at him from under the fringe of his hair, and lifts the corner of his mouth.

"Aww," Hunk says. "When are the two of you—" He coughs when Pidge elbows him in the gut. "Never mind. Serious stuff going on here."

Lance ignores all that, because yes, there is serious stuff going on here. "You don't have to go into the healing pod."

Keith holds his hands with their sharp nails out in front of him, the purple fur glowing in the artificial lighting. "Yes, I think I do."

Allura smirks at Lance, who rolls his eyes in return.

"But this is the last time," Keith says. "Because—and I can't believe I'm saying this—Lance is right. I need to learn how to control it." He looks right at Lance. "I knew it was you. I—got that. I didn't really understand everything else going on. But I—I knew was you."

"Can I repeat myself?" Hunk says. And then he does without any answer. "Because, aww."

"Enough," Lance says, glaring at Hunk. He and Pidge just grin at each other, all at Lance's expense. His friends are jerks.

Keith is no longer looking at Lance as he speaks to Allura. "It's fine. Let's get this over with. But—let's come up with a plan for after. One that does not include darts and pods every time I shift. I do need to learn how to—" He trails off and shrugs.

"Learn to cope with this?" Allura says gently. Keith nods. "Of course, Keith. That's all I want."

"That's all any of us want," Shiro says from behind Keith.

Keith practically jumps out of the doorway when he hears Shiro. Shiro has a small smile, but it looks a bit sad—like he understands how he deserves that response, Keith being nervous and skittish around him. Keith backs up until he's standing next to Lance. 

Good. Because he does, in Lance's opinion, have a reason to be upset. Lance doesn't often argue with Shiro, not any more, but he's willing to over this because the whole situation is shitty.

Shiro seems to understand that, though, and is prepared to address it. "I want to apologize," he says loudly, eyes sweeping the room and making contact with everyone in it. "To Keith, of course, but to the whole team. My behavior was completely unacceptable."

"We know what you went through," Pidge says gently. "It's understandable."

Keith begins nodding but Lance elbows him in the ribs and glares at Shiro.

"You can't do that anymore," Lance says. "You can't treat Keith like that. It _was_ unacceptable."

"Lance," Keith scolds under his breath, but Shiro is nodding.

"You're right, absolutely. I will try to do better going forward, I will." 

"I know," Keith says. "I—I get it. I do. This is, uh. Everyone has to get used to it. But thank you. For saying this."

Pidge and Hunk and Allura all murmur their appreciation and forgiveness and all the sappy stuff. Lance crosses his arms and glares at Shiro. 

"Looks like I'm going to have to prove I can do better, aren't I?"

"Damn right," Lance says, and lifts his chin defiantly. 

Shiro just grins and nods, not saying anything to that, but steps forward and puts a hand on Keith's shoulder. "I'd like to walk with you to the pod station, if that's okay? Talk through it all with you and Allura."

"Sure," Keith says, and he sounds so damn happy about it. Sure, Lance was going to offer the same but may as well let the two of them work through this. No big deal. Whatever.

Keith does take a moment to glance at Lance. He opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again, and closes it firmly shut. Lance thinks, for the quickest of seconds, that maybe Keith is going to kiss him, but… no, he wouldn't. That's stupid. A funny feeling twists in his stomach anyway.

But Keith just pats his arm, ducks his head, and follows Allura out of the room.

Shiro moves to follow, then stops in his tracks and turns to Lance. "It's good he has you sticking up for him."

"Hey." Pidge frowns from where they're sitting. "Lance isn't the only one who is."

Shiro smiles. "I know. I didn't mean—" He frowns and then glances at Lance again. "I just mean, there's something different going on here, isn't there?"

"Different? There isn't anything different," Lance says quickly. He glares at Pidge and Hunk, both of whom are grinning.

"I believe the word you're looking for—" Hunk starts.

"Shut up, Hunk," Lance warns.

"—is _aww_."

Shiro looks at the door where Keith just left, and back at Lance. He blinks as if realizing something. "Ah."

"No, not 'ah'," Hunk says. " _Aww_."

Pidge laughs as Lance throws up his hands and then shoots Hunk the finger. "It is none of the things you guys are saying."

"Not yet," Pidge agrees. "Give it time."

"I see," Shiro says. "That's… interesting."

"No it's not. Aren't you supposed to be busy making things up to him?" Lance makes shooing gestures. "Get."

"I am," Shiro says. "I feel like I need to make things up to you too." He pauses. "Need me to put in a good word?"

"No, oh my God, get out," Lance says, shoving at Shiro's shoulder. Shiro lets himself stumble back but laughs a little.

"Don't worry, I got your back."

"Don't—no—it's not like that—" But then Shiro's gone.

"Oh my God, you're all assholes," Lance says, slapping his forehead and sighing.

"Yeah, but you love us anyway," Pidge says.

"Well, _yeah_ ," Lance says, like it's obvious. Because it is, duh.

"Aww," Hunk says.


End file.
